


Twisting poet

by Deanpala



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Spiral Martin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26736019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deanpala/pseuds/Deanpala
Summary: Just a little spiral Martin fic bc I fucking love cryptic bastards and I love mr blackwood
Comments: 5
Kudos: 49





	Twisting poet

The paranoia dies along with Martin. When the... Micheal thing takes him for the simple act of trying to open the door for miss Richardson, well.

The last Jon had done before he died is snapped at him.

He isn’t doing that again. He refuses to let anyone else get hurt, especially by him.

The loss of Sasha after is... its hard. Tim becomes more jaded after that, but Jon gets it. He has to, the two of them are all that’s left.

Which is why he feels so guilty that he’s going to get killed after being kidnapped by the stranger now. More trauma is not something Jon wants to give him.

But then.... he doesn’t die.

A door opens, Micheal screams, and out comes-

“Martin? What? I don’t-“

“You don’t need to understand” he tells him gently “the circus will be here soon, we should get you home.”

“Do you- do you still want to kill me?”

“Of course not Jon, that’s what Micheal wanted, not me.”

“So you- you’re still Martin then?”

“I’m certainly more Martin than I was Micheal. Something forced in is never going to fit as well. Come on then.”

Jon doesn’t trust this thing, doesn’t like the fact that it has Martins face.

He doesn’t really have a choice though, and it’s so much easier to believe that is Martin, that he’s still alive, so he goes in.

——————-

Martin, despite offering him a way home, keeps Jon in his corridors for awhile.

“I’m not going to eat you, I just know that as soon as you’re out you’re going to start working again and you need rest.”

“I can’t, not with- not with you here, like this. I don’t understand what- How are you’re the distortion now, how did you survive?”

“It’s simple, I stopped believing.”

“I didn’t- I’m sorry WHAT? What do you mean you ‘stopped believing’?”

“Simple really. Physics don’t work here, the world doesn’t work here, and trying to make sense of it makes it worse. If you just.... accept the fact that sometimes you walk on the ceiling, there’s not much you can do with that. Not that physics are real anyway, so I just stopped believing in them.”

“But that- that doesn’t make SENSE.”

“That’s rather the point, nothing does. Tell me, which way is up? There is no such thing because we are on a ball floating in space. Closest we could get to the truth is pointing north toward the axis, but that’s not accurate either. I could stop being/ start becoming Martin Blackwood because he never existed and neither have you. It’s just a bunch of cells and atoms lying to themselves, saying they are just one being. And between you and me, I’ve always been a good liar. Did you know I lied on my CV?”

Jon just kind of stares at Martin agape for a second before Martins rather long hand gently pushes him back down into a laying position.

(Impossibly so. It seemed to come from the ceiling and press down on him, but Martin is sitting to his left. And he remembers Martin’s hands, he didn’t have particularly long fingers, the whole thing was short and thick not.... this.)

“Try and get some rest. Times a lie too, so you aren’t worrying anyone more by staying here longer, and I’m not sending you home till you’ve been well rested and fed”

He gives up. There’s no real point in fighting with him, he can’t get out unless Martin decides to let him out. Besides he is rather tired.

——————  
He dreams, as always, of the statements. There’s something wrong this time though, they twist, feel more like a dream should instead of a rewatching of trauma. Nothing makes SENSE.

He wakes up to Martins face hovering uncomfortably close to his and yelps, scrabbling back.

“Sorry, sorry I was just. Curious. That was very satisfying, I can see the appeal of not doing the work yourself like that. Like to try again sometime if you’re amendable to it. Anyway, would you like some tea?”

Jon is far too tired to parse out what any of that just meant.

“Tea?”

“Yeah. Figure you fed me, i can at least pay you back you know?”

“Sure. Why not. What flavor?”

Martin seems to pull a cup out of thin air and hands it to Jon.

“It’s good I promise, just try not to think about it.”

Which of course makes Jon immediately worry about what this tea is and forces him to pay extra attention.

He looks between Martin and the tea frenziedly.

“Why does this taste like an E E Cummings poem and a documentary? More to the point, HOW? Neither of those things have a taste.”

“Is that what it taste like to you? Shouldn’t be surprised I suppose, it fits.”

“Martin-“

“Well it’s not my fault Jon, I told you not to think about it. You don’t have to finish it, I can just drop you back off at the Archives.”

“Drop me off? Are you... are you not coming?”

Martin gives him a slightly sad smile and shakes his head.

“Nah, I need time to get used to my new situation. I’ll be back though, if you ever need a door.”

————————  
Martin shows back up less than a week later, after a very unproductive conversation with Elias.

“He’s lying you know.”

“JESUS- Martin don’t DO that.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s- it’s fine. Comes with the territory now I suppose. Who’s lying?”

“Elias. I don’t know everything he is but there’s a lot. You can’t trust him.”

Jon lets out a little amused snort. No shit.

“And what is he hiding?”

“The dove has made its home In the heart of the fortress that’s not it’s own.”

“What the hell does THAT mean?”

“It means that the dove in the heart of-“

“No I heard you, I don’t understand it. You aren’t making any sense.”

“I AM making sense, just not in a way you like.”

Jon tries to reign in his frustration. He doesn’t quite succeed in keeping it off his face.

“I WANT to make sense Jon, but I’m now the literal personification of lies and madness.”

“Well can you TRY?”

Martin pulls at this hair in his own frustration.

“I AM trying, it’s not my fault you don’t have the context it- Christ it’s like trying to explain something to a five year old-“

“Hey!”

“No, sorry not like that I just- the difficulty you’re having understanding me is the same I have communicating, I have to try and change my entire way of thinking for it to work and chose my words carefully. I was trying to say I can understand you fine but I don’t know how to say anything back you’ll get, it’s against my entire nature to help you learn anything now. I’ll- I think it’ll get easier, I just have to adapt.”

“You didn’t have a problem last week.”

“That’s because I wasn’t- I hadn’t settled into myself yet. I hadn’t been the distortion before, it needed time to stick.”

“..... I see.”

“No you don’t, but that’s fine. I’ll.... try. To answer things in a sensical manner.”

“Alright then what- since you’re... attached? To one, do you think you can explain this whole entity thing?”

Martin’s eyes furrow a bit, a clear sign he is thinking about how best to put this.

“Apathetic colors.”

“Really. Apathetic colors.”

“Yeah. Scary hungry ones.”

“Scary hungry apathetic colors. How helpful.”

“Look I’m sorry, I’m doing my best. God Gerry would be so much better at this-“

“Gerard Kaey? You KNOW him?”

“Well Micheal did, and I know everything he knew now. He had a good grasp on this stuff. I don’t know where he is though so I can’t really send you his way for help. I think he was in America last I knew. Helping Gertrude with something or other.”

“I- can you help me find him? I could FINALLY get some answers.”

Martin frowns at him a bit.

“Fine, yes you did give me some, I mean some sensible answers.”

“Fair enough I guess. I’ll try. Don’t make any promises, but you at least won’t have to pay for the flight ticket.”   
————————————-  
Jon is leaving his office to rummage for something in document storage, but the second he opens the door the walls start to turn in on themselves.

He hate how common place this is becoming.

“Martin, stop. Let me out.”

He doesn’t appear but Jon can sense his presence all the same.

“Sorry Jon, But you’ve been at it for what, thirty two hours now? It’s not healthy, you need some rest.”

“I don’t want to stay here, it hurts my head.”

“And you don’t have to stay here! If you try and leave, you’ll be right at your flat, no disorientation or anything.”

“The unknowing is coming up we don’t have time to-“

“You have all the time you could ask for Jon! It’s not real in here.”

Jon gets an idea.

“Fine. Go ahead, send me home.”

The second he’s in his flat he tries to go out the front door.

He finds himself walking into his bedroom.

That’s.... not right.

He tries to leave his bedroom.

He is still opening the door into it.

Fine, if that’s how it’s going to be.... 

He opens his window, and finds himself falling from the ceiling into his bed.

His room (or rather, Martin) starts laughing at him.

“This isn’t funny.”

“I disagree.”

“Martin let me out. Now.”

“You aren’t leaving this room until you sleep.”

Jon tries to leave again, and Martin sighs.

“If you’re going to make me...”

The floor starts... doing something under his feet. It makes him dizzy and he struggles to walk on it.

“Fine, I’ll stop.”

“See that you do.”

————-  
It surprises Jon when Martin comes into the Archives next, wringing his hands. He hasn’t looked so unsure of himself since... well since he was Martin.

“Jon I- I took someone....”

“Wh- what? Like how- like Micheal ate you?”

Martin nods and somehow looks... small in the moment. He’s still hard to properly wrap his head around, but it’s obvious he’s..... guilty? Anxious? Jon doesn’t know.

“He’s dead now, died in me. It was- I’m not hungry anymore, so that’s good I guess but it’s- I think it’s wrong? I wouldn’t have done this before I was me, would I?”

“No, you wouldn’t have. Why’re- why are you asking me about this?”

Martins shrugs, or rather it looks like his body somehow compresses and expands in a way that it goes below his shoulder, and he blushes.

“I don’t really know, wouldn’t have shared it before. I guess- I’ve been alone for awhile, and even if you were.... preoccupied, a lot of the time when I talked to you, I still- well I liked you then I suppose.”

“And now?”

“I don’t know. I think I still care about you, but it might just be nice to have a tie back to my humanity. Either way, I figured you would understand.”

“I- um what does that mean?”

“Well you’re changing and loosing your humanity too aren’t you? It’s not quite the same granted, because you always wanted to understand the world and listen to your stories and now you can and it makes the world so much more interesting. I’m just... confusing, but you’re becoming something beautiful and complex ya know? A new Archive, a broadcast for everything, and your scars will metamorphoses the earth.”

Martin says all of this like a good thing, a complement, like he is in utter awe of Jon, but it just fills him with a sense of dread.

“You aren’t making sense”

Martin smiles at him fondly.

“I’m not doing it on purpose, but I DO like it when you’re confused.”

Jon scowls at this and Martin laughs. The laughter..... hurts Jon’s head.

He doesn’t say anything though. He doesn’t know if he had ever heard Martins laugh before he became the distortion, and he knows he was part of the reason Martin had been miserable, so he deals with the headache to allow him a moment of happiness.  
——————————-  
Things get... hectic, after that. All their time is spent trying to stop the unknowing, trying to find a safe way to blow it up.

Tim is still... well, he’s trying with Jon at the very least, but with Martin he’s... the pain of Sasha is to fresh, he can’t trust that it’s not just another monster with a loved ones face.

He trusts him enough still to take his door right before setting off the detonator though, and now that they’re away from the institute in Scotland, he and Jon have all the time in the world to get used to Martin again.


End file.
